


A Watchful Eye

by sailorstar165



Category: D.Gray-man
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Possible backstory, Waiting, Watching, child allen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:34:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,984
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25164751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sailorstar165/pseuds/sailorstar165
Summary: “Allen Walker. The one who sees the Akuma’s souls. I know you. The Earl told me about you. You became an exorcist to save the souls of Akuma, right? Because you were cursed by your dear foster father. That’s why I swore I’d go after you.”That was a lie. The Earl hadn’t told her anything. Road had been interested in Allen far longer than that.
Relationships: Allen Walker & Mana Walker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 54





	A Watchful Eye

_“Allen Walker. The one who sees the Akuma’s souls,” Road said. “I know you. The Earl told me about you. You became an exorcist to save the souls of Akuma, right? Because you were cursed by your dear foster father.”_

_A small smile touched her lips. One she herself didn’t fully understand. “That’s why I swore I’d go after you.”_

That was a lie. The Earl hadn’t told her anything. He couldn’t remember Allen from before. Didn’t want to. He’d tried to erase Allen when he returned. No loose ends, but he’d underestimated the vessel Nea had chosen.

Road hadn’t. She’d been watching them for a long time. Allen especially. After Nea was eaten and Mana lost his mind, she kept tabs on both. Or tried to. Mana was easier to follow. A traveling Pierrot always made for a spectacle people would notice. He wasn’t hard to find, but then again, he wasn’t trying to hide. He’d forgotten all about them, about the Noah, the Akuma, the Earl… but no, he still remembered the Earl. Deep down, he knew, for any time tragedy struck, any time tears threatened him, he would push back the emotions that might summon that terrible being he was destined to become.

Allen was trickier. She’d hear rumors of the man who had taken on Nea’s memories, but either they would turn out to be a false lead or he would have already skipped town before she arrived. But at least she knew he was still alive, even if she never laid eyes on him. Nea’s memories, for the moment, were safe.

Then one day, leads dried up altogether. It was like Allen had disappeared. _He can’t have died,_ Road thought to herself. She’d have known, wouldn’t she? They were linked through Nea’s memories, and she was certain that shrewd and calculating as Allen and Nea both were, he wouldn’t have fallen prey to anything from either side. _He’s just hiding, biding his time._

But years passed without any news, and Road began to despair as she watched Mana from afar. The man had picked up a dog, one he named _Allen_ after Nea’s last words to him. He also kept walking, kept searching, knowing he had to find Nea but with no idea where to look. Part of Road, the part of her that held the Noah’s memories, wanted nothing more than to kill that dog and bring their Millennium Earl back to them, but she squashed that urge. _There’s no point,_ she told herself. _He has to remember first._ That was the only thing that kept her from acting and bought Mana more time with his fake freedom.

Then one day, Mana found himself joining up with a circus. Normally, this wouldn’t have interested Road in the least. He joined circuses all the time to earn his bread. No, this circus was different. There was something here. Road could feel it.

But what was it? She licked her lollipop thoughtfully as she watched Mana and his dog juggle for the crowd. It couldn’t be Cross, though she knew that man to be lurking nearby. She’d deal with him later. For now, she needed to figure out what this feeling was.

It wasn’t until a few days later that she knew. By then, Mana’s dog was gone. Dead and buried. She’d been drawn to Mana’s anguish and watched from afar as he crushed his emotions even as his heart broke in two. Road felt for him. She really did, even though the Noah within her wanted nothing more than for him to mourn the loss of his beloved friend and in turn bring back their Earl. The human part of her wanted to go comfort the man, but as she watched, someone else took her place at his side: a child, one with silver eyes and a mess of brown-red hair.

That beat up boy looked so right, sitting next to Mana and mourning the dog that the man could not. There was something familiar about him too. Something both wonderful and terrible.

Road tilted her head. _Terrible?_ She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this way about a human. Perhaps the Order’s generals could inspire fear, but a child? Even with the Innocence in his arm, the boy was unremarkable. There was hardly any strength to him. He was so small and malnourished, Mana was able to scoop him up with one arm when the boy grew exhausted from simply _weeping_.

But then, hadn’t Mana and Nea inspired that in her when she first saw them? They too had been inconspicuous, Mana with his bright smile and Nea with his bland, bored expression had radiated power. The same power this mere boy did.

Her eyes widened. No, this couldn’t be _him_. Allen never had the ability to turn back time. Not on himself nor on others. He’d been a scholar, a bookish sort with bad eyes and an infectious smile to rival Mana’s. A _human_ , plain and simple. No magic, no special abilities, nothing.

So how was it that this boy that Mana carried away on his back could be him? Could hold Nea’s memories locked within him?

 _Innocence._ And not just any Innocence. This reeked of Apocryphos’s doing. Her face contorted in pure rage at the thought. How _dare_ that thing hurt Allen? Hurt _Nea_? She balled her hands into fists. It had taken away Allen’s time and memories and then forced a piece of the false God’s crystal into his body.

Road wanted nothing more than to destroy the monstrosity that had taken residence within Allen, but she held back. Apocryphos was smart. Likely, if Allen was still here it was because that monster couldn’t kill him, probably due to Nea’s influence. That Innocence couldn’t just be there to keep tabs on the boy. It was there to taunt them, maybe to keep Nea’s memories sealed as well, and something told her that even if she destroyed it, it wouldn’t stay that way.

So she’d leave it for now and just continue her vigil. She watched as the Earl appeared for the first time in decades to take vengeance on all those who had hurt Allen, both the child and the dog. For a moment, she hoped this was his return, but no sooner had he been summoned than did the Millennium Earl vanish once more.

And then Mana and Allen were on their way as if nothing had happened. The boy was none the wiser as they traveled from town to town, playing the fool for their supper. If things looked dire, Road would use the Akuma to toss a few coins to the child—never to Mana; Mana would know the Akuma and refuse, much to Allen’s consternation.

“We coulda used that!” he complained one time Mana caught him accepting the money, but Mana had just ruffled his hair and didn’t explain himself.

Seasons changed, and Road stood by and observed. Anyone would think the pair a father-and-son duo. As Allen grew, his edges softened toward Mana. He was still salty and trusted no one, but he was warming to the clown. And Mana coddled Allen as much as he could. Often they didn’t have enough to eat, but Mana always made sure the boy had the larger share of anything. He gave the boy everything, even the secret code known only to the Earl, Nea, and Road.

Jealousy burned within Road’s breast, but still she did nothing. Allen held Nea’s memories. Of course Mana would sacrifice everything for that child. The ‘brothers’ had always been that way. As it was, Nea was even trying to cheat death itself to return to Mana. There was no reason to be jealous of some brat—she’d long since stopped considering this rude little boy to be the same person as the Allen she once knew—and so she wouldn’t be. She just had to be patient. Mana would return to her soon enough.

Though as time passed, she began to wonder. This was the happiest she’d seen Mana since he and his brother had awoken as Noah, traveling with this child who would one day awaken as the Fourteenth. Maybe he wouldn’t come back to their side. Maybe when Nea awoke, they would run away again and this time succeed in escaping their fate.

But then the fragile joy Allen and Mana had carved out of the world for themselves shattered. Road felt the tug of sorrow so deep, it seemed to swallow her. Mana was crying out for her. For any of the Noah family.

She found him alone, Allen nowhere in sight, head in his hands as he shook with tears. The darkness was swallowing him, and try as he might, he couldn’t shake off the grief that overwhelmed him now.

“Please, Road,” he sobbed. “Allen. I can’t lose him. Please. He’s my precious… my precious…”

But Mana never finished his request. The tears that dropped to the ground were replaced by the blood dripping from the stigmata that opened like fresh wounds across his forehead, and it was the Millennium Earl who looked up now, smiling broadly.

“It’s so good to see you again, Road,” he said, all smiles. As if Mana hadn’t been weeping and begging moments before. The Earl stood and dusted off his coat. “I have a very important job for you.”

His mission was simple for one with Road’s powers. To pull the wool over humans’ eyes was no trouble. She chose a man who looked a little like Mana, the same height and build, and put him in the old coat and hat Allen would know anywhere. Then she wove a dream around him. To the world, he was Mana Walker. And then she tore this man down.

A cart overturned and crushed this man who now shared Mana’s face. Allen pleaded with his foster father to stay with him and heard the words she knew Allen would recognize anywhere: “Keep walking until the day you die.” Then ‘Mana Walker’ was no more. Just a memory and a name on a gravestone that didn’t even contain the corpse of the man it asserted once existed.

All that was left was for the Millennium Earl to see to the boy. Normally, Road would watch in glee as a human fell into the Earl’s trap, but after following that child for so long, it felt wrong somehow. He was her Allen, her Nea, her Mana’s precious… something. Even she wasn’t sure what Mana saw in the boy in those last moments, what had driven him to despair.

The thought that Mana had realized who that child was came to mind. Maybe he’d figured out that Allen was so familiar to him because the boy held Nea’s memories, and the thought of losing the boy he had grown to love so dearly, even if it was to bring his brother back, was too much for him. Road would never know for certain. By the time the Millennium Earl returned from tying up those loose ends, the piece of him that was ‘Mana’ was gone. Placed in the Akuma the boy foolishly created and destroyed by that accursed hand of his.

“But why not just kill him now?” Road asked. “Why let Cross have him?”

The Earl tilted his head, pondering the question. “Why indeed… I think it will make my scenario that much more exciting, don’t you think?”

He’d said it in his usual cheerful way, but there were tears in his eyes. _Maybe_ , Road thought, _he couldn’t do it._ Which gave rise to speculation. Deep down, the Earl remembered, if only a little, who this boy was to him. The question was, was Allen his precious child? Or his precious brother? Road would just have to find out.

She could wait though. Road had become very good at waiting.


End file.
